Humour
No Laughing Matter! — The serious business of humour and clever wit
1-day Intensive Seminar with Paul Smith M.A.&Helga Smith M.A. — in Munich, Frankfurt, or Berlin
In modern life, humour is among the most underrated professional abilities — and one that can absolutely be learned.
Used intelligently, it reduces tension, accelerates trust, softens criticism, and transforms uncomfortable interactions into human ones. People who use humour naturally and appropriately tend to be perceived as warmer, more confident, more emotionally agile — and considerably easier to spend three hours in a meeting with.
This seminar is not about becoming a comedian. It is about understanding the hidden mechanics of humour, and learning how wit, timing, understatement, irony, self-awareness, and conversational agility can dramatically improve professional and social communication.
“Humour is just another defense against the universe.” — Mel Brooks
Drawing on linguistics, psychology, rhetoric, stand-up comedy, leadership communication, and decades of international coaching experience, this highly interactive day reveals why humour works, when it fails, and how thoughtful professionals can use it naturally — without becoming artificial, loud, or accidentally terrifying HR.
Programme
Throughout the day, we perform live forensic humour analysis on films, interviews, speeches, stand-up, and spontaneous conversation — examining why one line lands while another produces silence dense enough to require specialist equipment, and why a single unexpected word can transform an entirely ordinary sentence.
Seminar Format
Humour is not learned by memorising jokes. It is learned by understanding people.
Your Trainers
Paul Smith M.A.
MA in Visual Communication, Royal College of Art, London. Co-founder of OWAD, read daily by over 7,000 professionals across the DACH region. Former chair of The English Public Speaking Competition — a partnership between PSA, the Financial Times, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Helga Smith M.A.
MA in Philology, Goethe University Frankfurt. Three decades helping senior professionals find their voice — in English, in German, and across the cultural boundaries that separate them. Former cross-cultural trainer for the American Army Education Center and Siemens.
Over three decades, Paul and Helga have trained senior professionals across Europe, the USA, South America, Africa, and India — among them Lufthansa Flight Training, the Helmholtz Institute, Management Centre Europe, Zentrum für Unternehmensführung, the Austrian Management Academy, the SwissRe Centre for Global Dialogue, the British Council, and the Boston Consulting Group.
Logistics
Format
1-day intensive09.00 – 17.30
Investment
€ 650 + MwSt.Includes
Full-day trainingDocumentation, lunch,
refreshments & certificate
By the end of the day, participants leave not with borrowed jokes, but with a clearer understanding of their own authentic humorous voice — and how to use it with confidence, intelligence, and taste.